Tony Clement willing to testify before MPs about census

Industry Minister Tony Clement.

Photograph by: Chris Wattie
, Reuters

As opposition around Ottawa's decision to abolish the obligatory long-form census grows, Industry Minister Tony Clement said Thursday he would testify before a House of Commons committee about his decision.

The government has said its move three weeks ago to replace the form in 2011 with an optional survey was based on privacy concerns. But the Office of the Privacy Commissioner said it received only three complaints about the census in the last decade.

"We are with those Canadians who feel that a mandatory census with threats of jail time or fines to be too intrusive and coercive," said Clement, who told reporters in Montreal he would be prepared to appear before the industry committee — if a meeting is called — to talk about the change.

"There are Canadians who are bothered by this. Not all Canadians. For those who aren't, when you get the long form census, you can fill it out."

Opposition to the Conservatives' decision has been mounting for weeks. And now, provincial governments are adding their voices to the chorus. The crux of the problem, the provinces say, lies in the fact the survey will be optional.

Prior to the changes, announced on June 26, a total of 80 per cent of Canadian households received an eight-question short census questionnaire. Twenty per cent received the longer questionnaire, with 53 additional questions about ethnicity, religion, income, education and housing.

Both forms were mandatory.

With the recent change, however, Canada is believed to be the only country in the world with a national census that is partially optional.

"When we get something in the mail and we're not forced to do something about it, what do we do?" asked Manon Leclerc, a spokeswoman with Quebec's statistics agency. "We throw it in the garbage. The fewer people who respond, the less reliable the data is."

"Say if in one neighbourhood, you know the population is old or tends to be sick, the ministry known to offer specific services there."

This concern was echoed Thursday in an editorial from the Canadian Medical Association Journal, which said the information collected from the long-form census has been integral to shaping the association's views on health issues.

"Without this information, Canada is stripped of an important resource to guide social interventions and investments to improve the health and well-being of Canadians," wrote the journal's editor-in-chief Dr. Paul Hebert and associate editor Dr. Marsha Cohen.

Quebec's Leclerc added its important that governments are able to prepare language and cultural programs for the appropriate groups, based on immigration profiles provided by census data.

P.E.I. Finance and Municipal Affairs Minister Wes Sheridan said the government should consider reinstating the long-form of the census.

"Quite simply, we rely on the information gathered from the long-form of the census when deciding the best way to deliver programs and services for Islanders," he said.

A provincial statistician in B.C. said the 2011 census changes are effectively going to leave out the smaller communities in Canada.

"Programs that'll be effected will largely be the ones geared to smaller communities," said Don McRae, executive director with B.C. Stats. "And that may be 'smaller' geographically or virtual communities. Programs aimed, for example, at closing the socioeconomic gap between aboriginals and non-aboriginals in British Columbia will have to rely on less information. We won't be able to pinpoint certain regions in the province where there are gaps in education or employment.

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